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Originally Posted by MaxHeadroom
Traffic calming is a waste of money and just clutters the street with obstacles called "street furniture." Slowing traffic down offers no real benefit other than giving satisfaction to someone who arbitrarily feels vehicles are moving too fast.
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Well, it offers both satisfaction and, y'know, fewer fatalities.
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Spend the money on more police to patrol and enforce the rules instead if that is so important. It amazes me that when I visit Myrtle Beach, pretty much everyone does exactly the limit of 40 or 45 MPH on US17, which is a seven lane road. And nobody is doing 80 MPH on the freeway like is commonly the case on the 417 to Montreal. Drivers don't make unsafe turns, run yellow or red lights. It's quite relaxing!
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You're confusing two things here: no one is proposing that speed bumps and bulb-outs be installed on the 417 or US17; These are roads which are designed and meant for vehicles only. There are very few potentially unexpected variables, so you can just set a speed and cruise. In this context, traffic calming measures would provide very little benefit (in terms of lives saved through reduced speed) and would just be annoying and potentially dangerous for the sole users of the road (cars).
But on your residential street where there are not only cars but also kids playing in the street, people cycling through and neighbours stopping in the street to chat, or on your commercial street with stop signs, red lights and stopped buses, there are loads of other users not encased in several-tonne metal carapaces. To these users, as per the graph above, a difference of a few km/h can make the difference between a scraped knee and a violent death. And studies show time and again that people drive at the speed indicated by their environment (lane width, obstacles, street framing, etc.), not by arbitrary speed limits. So in that context, speed is both much more prone to cause accidents and death, AND it's determined by the street environment. Therefore, traffic calming (which often need not cost more than the price of two flower planters or paint, btw) is appropriate.